India pledges $1m support for Kofi Annan ICT Centre
The Indian government has pledged a $1 million grant for the Indian Ghana Kofi Annan ICT Centre of Excellence to help it initiate a Master’s programme for students.
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The amount is also to help the Centre, which has been ably managed by Madam Dorothy Gordon, to expand its laboratory facilities and introduce additional curriculum that will help students to be abreast of rapidly advancing technology.
The Indian President, Mr Shri Pranab Mukherjee, announced this when he addressed the faculty, students and special guests of the centre in Accra as part of his recent two-day visit to Ghana.
The amount pledged, he said “is in recognition of the achievements of this centre.”
“I am glad to note that the Kofi-Annan Centre for Excellence is duly focused on research and the application of science and ICT in finding local solutions for national issues,” the Indian President added.
President Mukherjee emphasised that India’s experience as a developing country had taught it the necessity of giving due attention to equitable and inclusive growth and development.
“It is very important to ensure that the digital revolution does not create new imbalances between men and women, between rural and urban centres or between the mainstream languages and others,” he said.
President Mukherjee said all sectors and segments must be reached in the drive to inculcate skills that would make the targeted population employable.
“If need be, special programmes must be designed to address their needs. I am happy to learn that the Kofi Annan Centre, through its special programmes, is looking at how best to respond to this important requirement.
“I am particularly delighted to interact with the students and trainees here. I see in each one of you great promise and potential. You are the future leaders of this country. Your innovative ideas have the potential to transform your country’s economy - and take it to a higher trajectory of productivity and growth,” he said.
He described as deep the positive experiences of the centre and said “I am very happy to see that this centre has grown into an institution par excellence. Since its establishment in 2003, it has, by now, trained over 20,000 students – not only from Ghana but also from other neighbouring countries.”.
“I understand that due to the close co-operation between this centre and the Indian Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, it has been able to steadily expand its curriculum to include several relevant areas of study such as cyber security, mobile computing, enterprise software, high performance computing and so on,” the Indian President added.
Without mincing words, he said congratulated the Director General, Dr Dorothy Gordon, for her dynamic leadership in making this partnership so fruitful. ‘’The High Commissioner of India to Ghana, Shri Jeeva Sagar, tells me that it is her (Dr Gordon’s) commitment and contribution that are at the core of the centre’s success,” he said.
For her part, Dr Gordon expressed gratitude to the President of India and his government for the kind gesture and pledged the commitment of the centre to continue to use its curricula to impact young people in Ghana and across the continent.